Chapter 2
I looked around the now bustling streets of Ponyville, trying to make sense of all the life that had come to occupy the once empty town. In my dreams, this sleepy border town to Canterlot had always been empty, but now there were all the ponies I knew from the show. Applejack was at her stand, while Rainbow Dash soared overhead.
“This isn’t right,” I said to myself. “None of this is supposed to be here.”
“Everypony got what they wanted though,” came a voice from behind me.
I turned around to see Teal rocking back and forth happily on her hooves. Her aura was as bubbly as ever, and she even waved to Pinkie Pie as she bounced by. My mind was still struggling to process what I was seeing, as the fourth wall breaking mare disappeared into sugar cube corner.
“This has to be a dream,” I mumbled.
“No, you’re just in the wrong story,” Teal rolled her eyes, but maintained a smile. “Besides you don’t exist here anymore, remember?”
“Wait, what?” the question snapped me out of my state of awe. “What do you mean I don’t exist?”
“Not in this Equestria you don’t,” Teal shook her hoof in a “no no” motion like Hue would when his niece would misbehave. “You’re just fiction, a passing thought.”
“Is Teal talking to herself again?” I heard one pony ask another as they walked by.
Panicked, I reached out to touch Teal, only for my hoof to pass through her. I fell on my haunches horrified by this revelation. I was still fake, I was still nothing more than some fictional character conjured up by the imagination of another.
“No…I’m not fake,” I whimpered.
An alarm started to go off which caused Teal to look at her barren foreleg, as if she were looking at a watch. A frown crossed her muzzle as if what she saw on her imaginary watch displeased her. As the alarm continued, she looked up at me, wearing an unsettling smile that sent a chill throughout my body.
“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but things to be, ponies to do, you know the spiel,” Teal said, placing a hoof against my chest.
“Your own story, that’s what you wanted right? I gave it to you, your own “real” Slice of Life,” Teal’s smile turned mischievous, as her cutie mark began to glow. “But this is my story now, and there’s no more room for you.”
The clear blue sky shifted to a blood red, as did the rest of Ponyville. Its inhabitants still seemed blissfully unaware, and continued about their business. Teal was the only one that seemed aware of my presence, and with a gentle push, sent me tumbling backwards down a hole that flashed with vibrant colors.
---
“Harmony!” I heard Hue exclaim, giving me a firm shake.
I bolted upright, surprised to find myself no longer falling, but stationary, and in a cocoon of bed sheets. Hue started to peel away the covers, revealing the shaking unicorn beneath them. A part of me felt ashamed, getting so worked up about a nightmare. Everything seemed so real about it, even Teal.
“I don’t think we’ll be going to that brand of medicine anymore,” Hue said, scratching behind my ear in an attempt to drive the horrible experience from my mind. “Was that your first nightmare?”
I nodded as I leaned against him. He was already dressed and ready for work, which meant I had slept in. I would usually beat his alarm clock to the punch, but this morning was an odd exception. I was a bit disappointed in myself for letting him down, but after ingesting a good deal of the medicine the vet prescribed, it left my head swimming.
“I’m fixing to go to work,” Hue said, his hand ceasing its soothing motions. “Try not to get into too much trouble today, okay?”
“I can’t speak for the world around me,” I replied, earning me a kiss on the horn.
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to entertain yourself. Just one more day, and then I’ll start the new job which will leave more time for you, I promise,” Hue smiled.
“Didn’t your mom warn you about promises?” I teased.
“Bye Harmony,” Hue chuckled before closing the door.
“Bye,” I said staring at the door.
I let myself fall backwards into the mattress and levitated the sheets over me once more. I could hear it raining outside, which was soothing to listen to. So far my life among the corporeal had been less than satisfactory. I had gotten sick, been taken to a vet after getting sick, and had my first nightmare after taking medicine for said sickness. One could only wonder what else was left to enrich my experience.
As entertaining as it was to ponder on such things, my mind soon wandered back to what Teal had told me. She had granted my wish, given me a Slice of Life, but why call it my story? I shook my head in an attempt to forget about the mare, and dismiss her as a nightmare. This task was made easier upon hearing my stomach growl.
As warm and comfortable as the sheets were, especially with the rain tapping against the window, my need for food took precedence over being lazy. I couldn’t help but let out a reluctant sigh as I pushed the covers off of me, and jumping down to the floor.
My hooves clacked loudly against the tiles of the kitchen, which grew irritating. It was aggravating enough for me to stall my search for food and bring a few towels to lay down around the floor, which helped to soften the noise, but not by much. It did lower to a tolerable level that allowed me to focus once more on finding sustenance.
Hue, bless his socks, had gone out and bought just about everything he thought a pony would eat while I was passed out on his couch. I could only imagine the look of surprise when the cashiers saw a meat loving human walk up with a buggy full of fruits and greens. It was a sweet effort on his part, and while it gave me options, taste was still a new avenue for me to explore. Some of the options, however, were less than flattering.
“Ugh, carrots with the leaves attached?” I cocked an eyebrow as I levitated one in front of me. “I am not a farm pony Hue.”
As snooty as I was about my food, my stomach was in no mood for such nonsense, which is why I was left quite stunned when I found the green top of a carrot hanging from my muzzle. The warmth of my horn faded, which shed light as to how it had ended up in my mouth, but I was still stunned that my will had been overwhelmed by need.
Hanging as it was, I gave the leaf an experimental munch…and another…and another. Soon the carrot was being drawn up to my mouth as I consumed the carrot’s healthy green leaves with star filled eyes. Whether the hunger had any effect on my taste or not I didn’t care, all that mattered was the heavenly taste of carrots.
All too soon, the wonderful treat was gone. Thankfully, there were more where the first heavenly orange root came from, and they were devoured just as quickly. My mind was racing with the concept of taste, and it took what felt like a super pony effort to reel my mind back into reason. These were simple carrots, tasty carrots, but normal all the same.
Satisfied with my full stomach, I sheepishly closed the door to the fridge. With my one goal achieved, I was bored now, and had little to do except wait for Hue to return. Sitting around all day didn’t appeal to me, however, and so I began to pace and gather my thoughts.
I briefly considered writing to pass the time. After all, that’s what Hue had done, and I owed my very existence to his spare time. As appealing as that was, I wasn’t the writing type and headed back to the computer room. The room lacked a decent name, and since it wasn’t a guest bedroom or anything of the sort, we took to calling it that. It was better than just calling it “the room down the hall.”
Ever since I was able to speak, I felt things needed names, I even tried to name all of Hue’s miniatures. Much to my dismay, my human provided the lame excuse that painting names on hundreds of small bases wasn’t practical. I felt sorry for the little models, being stuck in one pose for their whole life, with no name; not even a number!
An idea struck me as I pushed open the door to the computer room. I found Hue’s carrying cases easily enough, and opened them with a gleeful smile on my muzzle. I always felt like the miniatures were alive somehow. As much work as Hue put into them, they might as well be. For all their life likeness though, they lacked names. This was a problem I was convinced I could rectify.
That was my plan, anyways. As I started to paint small names on the bases of Hue’s models, my mind began to run wild with possibilities. Soon, I was playfully making sound effects as alien jets flew around the room, held in the air by a mystical aura. Small soldiers wobbled forward in the same magical spell to be painted.
“And you’ll be….Ted,” I smiled, painting the name on the model’s base with a smile.
A sudden knock at the door caused a break in my concentration. This resulted in two jets crash landing on the floor, thankfully still in one piece. I let out a held breath once I was sure that Hue’s figures were safe.
There was another knock at the door which seemed louder than the first. It made me nervous, but I decided to venture towards the front door. The knocking hadn’t returned which struck me as odd, but even odder was that someone would come looking for Hue. We lived in the country, and were out of the way for the most part.
I stared at the door, not entirely willing to open the door myself. While I felt confident in my magical abilities, I wasn’t confident enough to try and assault a potential robber waiting on the other side.
I took in a deep breath and opened the door, only to find no one in sight. I looked around cautiously, assuming it might be a prankster, or worse, but couldn’t find any evidence of malicious activity. Only when I turned around to walk back inside did I notice the box beside the door, addressed to Hue.
I slapped my muzzle with my hoof out of embarrassment after realizing I had gotten worked up over a deliver worker. I sheepishly retreated back inside with Hue’s box, and relocked the door. Once the door was closed, I stared at the box and turned it over with my magic.
While it was morally, and legally, wrong of me to sneak a peek at Hue’s mail, I couldn’t help myself. I was curious, and up until yesterday it was something I would almost assuredly know about, save for the few things my human did manage to keep to himself.
As I opened the box, and removed the packaging, I realized with a blush the grave mistake I had made. This was no ordinary delivery, this was a much more…personal one. I couldn’t look at it with a straight expression and could only marvel at its design. I was stuck between a state of disbelief and embarrassment for my actions.
“O-oh my H-Hue…” I felt my cheeks heat up as I looked down at the box and reread the label, which gave me a bit of insight.
I quickly did my best to repackage Hue’s….delivery, and hid it behind the chair in the living room. I wanted to forget about what I had just seen, and felt the best way to do that was to return to my painting. Despite my progress, I still had a few hundred or so names to distribute.
It was as I re-entered the room that I noticed a few old folders poorly stacked on top of one another. How I had missed them before was a mystery, as their drab color, and aged appearance was hard to miss. Further observation placed them next to the “name jar” that Hue used to come up with names when he wrote.
Curious, I began to shift through the old paper work, smiling as I discovered old sketches, and a few rough drafts. While some would only view these folders as forgotten ideas, a certain fondness for the old, somewhat wrinkled papers captured my heart. To me, it was as if I was looking at a family album.
Some story ideas were silly, while others were creative, but they were all ones I never knew existed. Even as a product of Hue’s mind, there were parts of him that were a mystery to me, but this was something completely new.
As I pondered as to how Hue had kept all of this a secret, a sobering thought occurred to me. He hadn’t kept any of this a secret, he simply forgot about all of these ideas. It tugged at my heart the more I thought about how many ideas had been left here to simply fade away into nothingness. As much as I loved Hue, I couldn’t comprehend this about his nature, about the nature of all humans.
I looked over at the miniatures and figurines before returning to the pages of thoughts and stories. A human’s greatest gift was their ability to create, that’s what Hue told me. When I asked him why creators abandon their creations sometimes, he assured me they didn’t.
As I turned through the pages, I came across a few villain ideas. Some lightened my mood, while others made me glad that Hue had stashed them away in this folder. There was one that caught my attention that looked a bit more recent than the others, however. Its page was unblemished, and sketch much clearer. I assumed this must have been the original villain for my story and passed it over.
“Doppelganger…weird myth,” I mused finding a few more ideas that brought a smile to my face as I read through them.
Page after page was the same; more characters, more plots, more forgotten ideas. Each one resonated with me in some way, and I couldn’t help but notice that the deeper I dove into these creative folders, the more complex the ideas became. I felt…guilty, like I had climbed over these other ideas that I thought were better to somehow become more than a thought.
I eventually closed the folder when I reached the ideas for a My Little Pony fanfiction. I knew what I would find there. I didn’t have the will to look back on the fake past I had been given, mostly out of fear that I would somehow regress to what I once was, and lose my grip of what I felt was a fragile thread of true existence. That Harmony had been adored by a multitude of people, but I was nothing but a shadow of her now that I was real.
That’s when it dawned on me, that I wasn’t meant to be her. I could be whatever I want to be now, it was my choice. I felt there was so much more to me than what Hue had typed out on a document for others to see, and now I could prove it.
---
“Harmony?” I heard Hue call as he walked down the hallway. “Are you in-“
I turned to face him as he flipped on the light to the computer room. After finding the folders I had spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do with myself. I now felt confident that I was meant to get out into the world, like other ponies. I didn’t want to stay cooped up all day.
“What are you doing?” Hue asked.
“Job applications,” I replied. “I want to be out in the world.”
“Harmony, there’s tons of ways to do that without trying to find a job, which is hard enough to begin with,” Hue said, picking me up briefly to sit in his chair, holding me in his lap. “Trust me, it’s not as fun as it sounds.”
“Maybe, but it’s better than wasting away,” I sighed. “I may be breathing, but if I’m not doing something with myself, how am I any different than all the others in there?”
Hue’s eyes followed my hoof towards the folders I had been shifting through. I watched anxiously as he picked one up and opened it up in front of me, looking down at it from over my shoulder. I could only imagine now what was running through his mind as he shifted through the pages. Ever since I had become corporeal, I had lost the link with Hue and couldn’t pick up on his feelings like I once could.
I expected him to be mad at me for going through his personal stuff, but what he did next took me completely off guard. He was smiling, laughing at times even. I had heard Hue laugh thousands of times, often at crude jokes or mockingly at those who had earned his ire, but this was a different laugh. This sounded innocent, kind and genuine.
“I can’t believe I forgot about these,” he said.
“So you did forget,” I mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hue nudged me.
“You just left them there, your thoughts,” I looked up at him. “Why?”
Hue didn’t reply, but instead stared down at the folder. I may have lost my link with him, but I knew him well enough to tell when he was nervous about something. He was afraid of answering wrong; as if this was some kind of test of his character. I already knew Hue inside and out, I just wanted answers which is why it stung a bit knowing that he was trying to pick his words carefully.
“Just say what’s on your mind,” I said, hopefully ruining whatever composed thought he had put together. I just wanted the real Hue to answer.
“I just forgot,” He said with a sigh, the words leaving his mouth without hesitation. “I wrote stuff down to get it out of my head and onto paper to hopefully make something, and nothing came from it.”
“I see…” I said quietly, leaning against him, feeling his heart beat against my back; he was definitely nervous.
“Look, if this is about you being a thought, we both know you’re more than that,” Hue stroked my mane.
“What does that make the others?” I placed a hoof against his chest. “Were they less than what I was?”
“Harmony,” Hue’s face twisted slightly as I put pressure on him about this. “Humans have an ingrained instinct to create, I don’t know how else to explain it. Sometimes the best way to create is to get your ideas down where you can see them. Sometimes we make good ones, and sometimes we make bad ones, that doesn’t make them any less important if they never go anywhere. You learn what works and what doesn’t.”
I tilted my head in confusion at his explanation. His ideas had been discarded in a folder; it seemed obvious that he viewed them as less important. Some of the papers were faded slightly, hinting to their age.
“Harmony, if I didn’t care about my ideas, my past, then why did I take the time to store them?” Hue said. “I’m human, I forget things and I stumble sometimes, but I’d like to think that I saved those to look back on sweeter times in my life. All of that was before you even existed.”
“I just feel bad for them,” I sighed. “Like they never got their story.”
“I’d like to think that some of those ideas went into making your story,” Hue smiled. “Besides all stories have to come to an end anyways. Whether it’s in a back story, or a simple profile, it has to come to an end or it just rots from the inside out.”
“Stories can…rot?” I asked as I was set down on the ground so Hue could get up.
I chewed on the thought and vision of a book slowly decaying. Being a previous work of fiction, the image was unsettling, to say the least.
“You’re not a story though, you’ve got a life…so, I guess it is kind of up to you what you do with it,” Hue rubbed the back if his neck as I followed him down the hallway. “I’m just worried you wouldn’t be able to find anything, with you being a pony….no offense.”
“None taken, and I’m sure there are plenty of others who are having this same conversation with their human, if they haven’t already,” I leaned against him affectionately.
“Heh, yeah…by the way,” Hue looked down at me. “The mail didn’t happen to run today, did it?”
Even with my fur, I couldn’t help but grow cold when he brought up the mail. I had hoped he wouldn’t know, but I had forgotten all about the magical little device called a smart phone. Such a device was capable of alerting one to all sorts of things; mail included.
“Uhh…maybe?” I blushed. “M-maybe the better question is why you uh….y-you know.”
“….so you saw…” Hue averted his eyes.
“Yeah…I kind of wondered why you would order…that.” I rocked back and forth on my hooves.
“Well, you and me,” Hue started. “We couldn’t…you know-“
“I know, it’s just weird,” I cocked an eyebrow at him as an idea came to me. “Why you’d still want that, when you have the real thing?”
“Is that an invitation?” Hue chuckled.
“As long as you toss that “toy” on your way to your room,” I flicked my tail for emphasis, savoring the nervous expression on my human’s face. “A toy can’t make a man out of you, after all.”
---
I stoked my human’s hair, the dark fibers shining softly off from the limited light in the room. His breathing was steady and slow, even as I hummed to him. Hue always slept better when I sang or hummed to him. I figured he needed to be at his best for tomorrow.
Even as I watched him sleep, I couldn’t help but think about what he said. All stories needed to have an end, or they would rot. It still didn’t make sense to me, since I had seen first hoof what happens when a story ends. Why was an end always an inevitability?
I shook the head from my thought, ceasing my humming as I kissed Hue on the forehead. It was time I joined him in slumber, and hoped that it would be nightmare free this time.
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Wasn't sure if you'd see this before it drops. Congrats and I look forward to reading this story.
s19.postimg.org/tkg1cpsbm/Screenshot_17.jpg
I really like this! Please continue.
Also, fucking toys man. I bet it was a Twilight Sparkle doll.
Yay, a chapter ( mind be like ). *dis is going to be gud
Also keep it up this is a good story so far, cant wat for moar
Wow, so Teal just moved Harmony to be in the same "story" as Hue essentially making her real to that world. What throws me odd is that Teal then switched and took over what was Harmony's story and furthered the plot?
Gonna be interesting to see where this goes.
I'm still snickering about the mail. A well designed sculpture, I'm sure.
The plot is interesting so far. I'm interested in finding our just what Teal is
Also, I think you story could benefit from an editor, at least to make reading it slighty easier.
7037890 I didn't unfortunately, but thanks
7039143 There's a bit more to it than that, but that will come later.
7039772 That is the big question, what or who is Teal? Also, I have started to look into it, and have before.
7039350 A very fine sculpture indeed
7048342
But it was a good guess though.
So he ordered from BD. Cause I sure as hell can't think of any other place where hed get something similar.